City Manager Announces Two Administrative Changes in City Manager's Office

From the city of Evanston:

Evanston City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz has announced two administrative changes in the City Manager’s Office while Assistant City Manager/City Treasurer Marty Lyons continues in his role as Interim Director of Administrative Services.

Assistant to the City Manager Joe McRae will become Interim Assistant City Manager to support operations in the City Manager’s Office during Lyons’ temporary assignment and Web Communications Coordinator Erika Storlie will take on McRae’s role managing the City’s Citizen Engagement Division. These new assignments will begin September 1, 2011 and will continue at least through December 2011.

“The recruitment of the city’s new Chief Financial Officer continues and likely will not be filled until the end of 2011. Mr. Lyons’ primary focus between now and then will be managing the process to achieve a balanced, adopted budget for FY 2012. Lyons’ regular duties as Assistant City Manager need to be covered in the meantime,” said City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz.

McRae will assume the day to day coordination of issues in the City Manager’s Office, manage the City Council agenda preparation process and assist Lyons’ in working on several special projects. In addition, Bobkiewicz has asked McRae to be the lead senior manager coordinating City of Evanston youth programs. This will include primary staff support to the Mayor’s Youth Task Force, the city’s Youth Council and coordination of the city’s existing programs in Police, Library and Parks, Recreation and Community Services Departments.

Storlie will manage the Citizen Engagement Division which includes oversight of the city’s 3-1-1 operations, community outreach, public information, web and social media services, cable television and the city’s volunteer program.

McRae has been Assistant to the City Manager since October 2008. Prior to coming to Evanston, McRae served two years as Assistant to the Village Manager in the Village of Wilmette and was an ICMA Local Government Management Fellow in Catawba County, North Carolina. McRae has a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Public Communications from Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio.

Storlie has been Web Communications Coordinator for the City since 2009 and has worked in various positions with the city since 2004. Prior to joining the City of Evanston, Storlie worked for Sony Electronics in San Diego, California. Storlie has a Bachelor’s degree in Organization Behavior from Northwestern University and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration at Northwestern.

“Joe McRae has done an outstanding job of getting the 3-1-1 Call Center up and operating, while managing the city’s outstanding citizen engagement programs. I appreciate his willingness to temporarily put aside this good work in order to assist in the overall management of the city. Mr. McRae will also provide needed leadership to our youth engagement efforts as the city continues to ensure that all of our youth programs best serve the community. Erika Storlie is another star of the city staff who has brought our citizen engagement and transparency efforts on the Internet to being one of the most comprehensive package of tools offered by any community in America. I look forward to Ms. Storlie's further work in this area. Finally, I thank Marty Lyons for his continued willingness to take on key management positions on an interim basis. However, I very much look forward to his return early next year to his regular duties,” Bobkiewicz concluded.